LukefromDCWhat to know about the Labor/Hunger Strike at Delaney Hall
Friday May 29th
There is a new demand. It is that doctors go in to check out everyone in unit 2a/2b
Thursday May 28th
Most people are now eating, but the labor strike holds at near 100%.
An attorney noted that their client’s health had visibly deteriorated significantly in just a few weeks.
A family member reported that their loved one noted that there is no laundry, no sheets and the bathrooms are filthy.
A person inside reported that verbal abuse is a constant and that there is physical abuse even before the strike.
The guards are telling people that all problems they have is because of the strike. They say that those who don’t go down to eat will “face consequences”.
At about 1:30 pm advocates and family members started receiving calls from people inside telling them that about 40 guards from the Corrections Emergency Response Team (CERT) had entered their unit and were throwing “tear gas” in the hall and beating people with batons. They said ICE agents joined them later.
They told family members that CERT had entered units 2A/2B to take out a unit member who was bilingual and had been translating for the men who only spoke Spanish. The rest of the unit surrounded him with their hands in the air to prevent them from moving him. The guards started pushing and threatening them but they kept their hands in the air. They began beating some of the people in the unit. They threw some kind of chemical agent in the hall. After everyone retreated to their rooms they sprayed pepper spray inside and locked them in. The men also say that the ventilation was turned off. One person was hit in the face and was bleeding. They said that the staff started cleaning up the blood.
Four ambulances responded to the facility after the incident. Four people were taken to the hospital. One had a head injury, one had an injury to his hand, one had an abnormal EKG and one was having trouble breathing.
Others were taken to the medical unit inside the facility (between 5 and 6 people). The man who was the translator was one of those that was taken to the hospital.
Units 2A/2B are now on lockdown. GEO took away tablets and microwaves.
Just before midnight a fifth ambulance entered the facility from the far gate near where ICE agents have been lining up each night. Just after midnight a sixth ambulance entered the facility at the far gate.
Eleven women were transferred out of unit 1.
There are multiple people inside who are facing deportation to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Wednesday May 27th
Visiting is suspended “until further notice”. It will not resume until at least Tuesday.
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During outdoor rec men from one of the units started chanting “Libertad! Libertad!”. People could hear them outside. The guards were goading them to fight. The guards came in with large canisters full of some kind of chemical agent and threatened the men with it.
The jail administration was cleaning the bathrooms themselves before the congress people came in the morning.
In one of the units people are not allowed to move around. They are being kept in their rooms. In this same unit there was a strong acetone smell coming from the ventilation.
The guards are searching the rooms much more often.
One ambulance, one EMS vehicle and one ICE vehicle left the facility around 11:45 pm.
Someone who was on hunger strike was among those released.
Tuesday May 26 pm Update
Majority of each unit have left the hunger strike about 200 remain on hunger strike- unit 4 still has 40 people on hunger strike. There are more in the other units we are just not sure of the numbers.
Majority of women started eating today 5 remain on strike (a little over 50 in this unit)
More Reports of retaliation-
All TVs shut down and removed after people cheered for news reports of the protest outside
People are reporting that they do not have access to funds in their commissary accounts
Armed officers with rubber bullet guns and batons patrolling the units
Lights are left on all night
Water is intermittently shut off
Calls are being randomly turned off
No one has access to tablet or video calls
Even though GEO only pays $1-2/day depending on the job, many report that their pay is behind or that they have not been paid at all.
Releases are continuing. At least one person who was a part of the hunger/labor strike was among those released.
Tuesday May 26 am
The hunger/labor strike is ongoing. While some have ended the hunger strike, many more continue, and the labor strike is holding.
The labor strike puts much more pressure on the facility because they require prison labor to keep things running.
The facility and ICE are engaging in collective punishment by:
canceling visitation for all people in detention for the third visiting day in a row.
cutting off communication, commissary, and the ability to register sick calls and grievances online by the removal of tablets in entire units.
removal of access to phones for extended periods of time.
They are also cases of individuals experiencing:
threats of transfers.
not allowing detained individuals to have calls with attorneys.
being forced to stand in place for long periods of time.
Key takeaways:
People inside are frustrated with the media’s focus on conditions. They don't want to be comfortable. They want to be free.
While the brutality and violence of ICE outside the facility is grabbing headlines, people need to recognize that violent state power is unleashed and inflicted daily on the people being detained, their families outside, and our communities.
The demands are:
For Mikie Sherrill to return to Delaney and, this time, meet with the people on strike.
To release the people who are very young, very old and medically infirm.
For everyone to be released.
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Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
World news | The Guardian
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